V&S TOWNER LINE NEWSPosted Friday, November 16 2012 at 1036 h MSTA few interesting things about the Towner Line came to light yesterday with a decision from the Surface Transportation Board. Apparently when they bought the line from CDOT, they filed with the STB to operate the line but inadvertently forgot to request the required permission to actually acquire it. (Required under 49 U.S.C. § 10902) The V&S's lawyers recently noticed this, and asked the STB for the appropriate permission and and that it be granted retroactively to the December 29, 2005 purchase date.

The importance of this is that the STB typically requires a carrier to own a line for two years before filing for abandonment. The board granted V&S permission to own the line yesterday (15 Nov 2012), but did not make it retroactive.

Before anybody gets excited that this may extend the life of the line for another two years, it won't. The STB also waived this requirement, indicating that it would accept a petition to abandon the western end of the line at any time. I would expect to see a V&S petition for abandonment very soon.

The STB decision (docket FD_35664_0) can be found on their website [here]. - NDHolmes

SLRG SLUG SET 459-227 LEAVING COLORADOPosted Tuesday, November 6 2012 at 1545 h MSTSLRG mother F40M-2F 459 and road slug 227 are leaving Colorado today on M-NYNP (Union Pacific's Denver North Yard to North Platte, NE, manifest). Word is they're billed to Lubbock, TX, and are probably headed for the West Texas & Lubbock (one of the other Iowa Pacific railroads). Thanks to a post by "updsueng" on the Colorado Railfan list for this one. - NDHolmes

844 UP THE JOINT LINE NEXT WEEKPosted Friday, November 2 2012 at 1024 h MDTIn a rare appearance by UP's steam department on the Joint Line, 844 will travel north along the Joint Line in Colorado starting Sunday.